Development of Advanced Fatigue Evaluation Methodology for Monitoring Major Components in Nuclear Power Plant

In an attempt to develop fatigue monitoring system, two improved fatigue evaluation schemes have been proposed to monitor fatigue degradation in major components and piping of the pressurized water reactor. Proposed methods are both aimed to obtain realistic fatigue usage factors for given plant transients. Developed schemes utilize plant operating signals such as coolant temperature, pressure and flow rate. Finite element method and an improved...